clearing of throat as if something in there.

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I have a solution to constant throat clearing. It is definitely caused by fear, stress, and anxiety. Your answer to this and a countless number of other medical issues is at this website...

God Bless!

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Guest · Guest

I have the same clearing of the throat, about every 3 minutes, even though i feel like i need to do it all the time! It sucks. I am sure it is annoying to the people around me. I will look inot some flowniase from the post above, but i hope htis thread keeps going until someone has an answer.

Oh and I already have my tonsils out, got them out when I was a kid. This problem develoiped about 2 years ago growwing gradually in frequency. My boss had it and NOW ME so i wonder if it is something contagious.... hmm.

anvil · Newbie Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 15

Im seeing an infectious diseases doc. Hope he can help me find something out. Everyone hang in there, and lets keep working on the medical system.

anvil · Newbie Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 15

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It makes me very angry that someone would come on and post a link about a drug that may help. I am so sick and tired of people sending spam etc about some cure all drug. This is not a simple issue. It is complex and we need to find answers not contribute to the deep pockets of the Pharmaceutical companies and the people that sell for them!

Cobbs · Newbie Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 1

I too have the same problem. It has been going on for about 4 years now. My wife is ready to divorce me over this. I've been to a couple of doctors and all I came away with is try Mucenix or Flonase. I still take Mucenix and sometimes it does give some relief. I do know that dairy foods make it worse and choclate doesn't help either. I am at work now and I know I am annoying my co-workers with this problem. I have to leave the room th clear my throat both at work and at home so I don't get the look from people.
My throat gets so sore from the constant clearing. I can't stand it. My doctor just ignors me when I tell him about it. I have sleep apnea and use a machine to help breathe at night when I sleep. If I don't use it I snore and my throat is killing me when I wake up in the morning and then I start with the throat clearing about 1 hour later.
I would give anything to find what is causing this and how to correct it. Maybe there is some place that can do a study on this problem. There sure seems to be a lot of people that have it.

joejoe68 · Newbie Joined: 09 Jan 2008 Posts: 2

On the historic island of Crete, with its olive trees, orange groves, and vineyards; its old stone farmhouses, monasteries and villages; and its long-forgotten castles and chapels, sits a modern university – the site of a fascinating study found in the April 10, 2003 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Might throat-clearing be an overlooked symptom of asthma? The authors surveyed the parents of over 2500 three-to-five-year-old children attending daycare on Crete. Among other things they asked "does your child have a habit of clearing his or her throat often?" More than one hundred parents said yes. Many of those children already had been diagnosed with asthma, but most had not. When pulmonary function testing was performed on the children believed not to have asthma, the results were enlightening: these children all had mild asthma that had not yet been suspected. And their lung function and throat clearing improved with asthma medicines. The study suggests that throat clearing may be the first sign of asthma in some children. Children with asthma fare better with early diagnosis and early treatment. It might be wise for doctors thinking about asthma to ask parents about throat clearing, and for parents whose children often clear the throat to ask their doctors about asthma testing. This new idea from an historic place might give new insight into 21st century children.

Alan Greene MD FAAP

April 28, 2003

joejoe68 · Newbie Joined: 09 Jan 2008 Posts: 2

What Your Symptom Is Telling You

Ahem. Clearing your throat is a time-honored way to draw polite attention. Just ask Miss Manners. But you may be clearing your throat so often that it's drawing negative attention. Perhaps a family member is wondering if you have some kind of throat problem. It's even starting to annoy you.

Chances are, it's just a habit that got started when you had an upper respiratory or throat infection a while back. Even though the original secretions that produced the tickle were over, you continued to clear your throat. That repeated throat clearing has been banging your vocal cords together, and when they meet so forcefully, they swell and create the sensation that something is still there in your throat. Your response? Ahem-and-ahem—more swelling, more sensation, and the cycle goes on.

Another common cause of throat clearing is acid reflux—excess stomach acid that creeps up the esophagus and irritates your throat, usually while you sleep. You may have reflux even without experiencing heartburn, doctors say.

Inadequate fluid intake and smoking can also dry and irritate the throat, prompting you to clear it. A good case of stage fright can do the same thing.

Aging can also have a drying effect on mucous membranes and prompt throat clearing. And if you've undergone radiation therapy, that may have dried your throat as well.

Symptom Relief

There's a lot you can do to clear up a throat-clearing problem.

Raise your fluid level. You need a crutch if you want to quit the throat-clearing habit, says David Alessi, M.D., an otolaryngologist in Los Angeles. And that crutch is water. "Feel like clearing? Stop and think—drink instead. Always carry a bottle of water with you," he says. "In three weeks, your habit will be broken."

Hydrate for stage fright. "Warm liquids are good if you're fighting stage fright," says Howard Levine, M.D., director of the Mount Sinai Nasal Sinus Center in Cleveland. "Your mouth and throat are drier when you're scared," he points out. Try this concoction when you need to use your voice in front of a group: Warm water with lemon juice and honey. "It creates humidity, coats the throat and gives soothing relief," says Dr. Levine.

Humidify the air. In winter, when there's dry forced hot air inside and cold dry air outside, use room humidifiers, suggests Steven Zeitels, M.D., an otolaryngologist at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston. The vapor will ease irritated throat membranes.

Swallow the problem. "Instead of clearing your throat, do a hard swallow—an extended swallow as though you had something in your throat," suggests Glenn Bunting, a senior speech pathologist at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. "It may alleviate the sensation that something is there."

Try the hard stuff. Bunting recommends sucking on hard candy to increase saliva and moisturize the throat. But don't use menthol lozenges, he says. They may be drying.

Be gentle. Your vocal cords are very small, about the size of a nickel, says Bonnie Raphael, Ph.D., a vocal coach for the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Imagine blowing into a tiny musical instrument, she suggests. "How hard would you blow? You need to avoid overpowering the vocal mechanism and think instead of providing just a steady, gentle breeze." Here is her prescription for reducing your ahem-ing.

"The safest way to clear the throat is to sharply sniff and then swallow. If you feel you must clear the throat, then do so silently without any voice at all. The more you avoid abusing your throat, the less damage you'll do to your vocal cords," she says.

Dry up the drips. If postnasal drip from an allergy or sinusitis is the culprit, treat these underlying conditions first, suggests Dr. Levine.

Relieve reflux. "If throat clearing is occurring after meals or when you're asleep, it may be the result of reflux," says Dr. Zeitels. Try taking antacids.

anvil · Newbie Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 15

asanz · Newbie Joined: 25 Jan 2008 Posts: 1

I have had problems with throat clearing for as long as I can remember, and so has my mother. I've been treated for GERD, with all the meds, unsucessfully. Take Flonase, that doesn't work. Xanax. You name it. I want to pass on a remedy that I found that has worked for me, but also some caveats. There are some warnings that I know comes with this remedy. It's apple cider vinegar. I take an apple cider vinegar pill before I eat and I have not had that sensation in my throat like I need to cleat it anymore, and I don't have the mucus in my throat anymore. Please go to the websites on the internet that discuss apple cider vinegar remedies and look for yourself at what they do and the potential problems--it is acetic acid, which I think is why it works, but it can burn if you don't use it properly. I'm just passing it on, because having to clear your throat all day long is just horrible and I'm free of it now, and want others to be as well.

clearing of throat as if something in there.

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